1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a protective cover for a process cartridge which is employed in an image forming apparatus on electro-photographic system such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, etc., and more particularly, to the protective cover which is advantageous in a method of installing the process cartridge in the image forming apparatus using the protective cover, the process cartridge employing the same, the image forming apparatus, and a method of installing the process cartridge.
2. Related Art
Generally, in an image forming apparatus utilizing electro-photographic system, a method in which an electro-photographic photoreceptor and electro-photographic processing devices acting on the electro-photographic photoreceptor are integrally incorporated in a process cartridge, and the process cartridge is detachably installed in a body of the image forming apparatus has been widely known. According to this method, workability in conducting maintenance of the image forming apparatus will be enhanced, and it will be possible for a user to conduct the maintenance of the image forming apparatus by himself, without an aid of a customer engineer.
The process cartridge of this type must be opened respectively at a position where the electro-photographic photoreceptor is opposed to a recording medium (such as a sheet of paper or an intermediate transfer body) during image formation, at a position where a light is irradiated from an exposing device, and further, at a position where the process cartridge is opposed to a developing device when the developing device is not integrally provided with the process cartridge. However, there has been such anxiety that a photoreceptive layer of the electro-photographic photoreceptor may be damaged during transportation of the process cartridge, and many structures for protecting the photoreceptive layer by employing a protective cover have been heretofore adopted. Usually, the protective cover of this type is detachably mounted on the process cartridge. There has been employed a method of installing the process cartridge in the image forming apparatus body, while separating the protective cover from the process cartridge at a time of installing the process cartridge, or by separating it in advance.